RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Crawford County >> Arion >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Arion, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Arion and the surrounding area.

  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Arion:
    • 41.948161, -95.462321
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Arion
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Crawford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Crawford County
    • Since Arion is near Shelby County and also Harrison County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harrison County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Arion

Communities Also Named Arion ...

We found one communities that are also named Arion.

Within Iowa, the name Arion is unique.

Beyond Iowa, there is another community also named Arion in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Ohio
      • Scioto County
      • This Arion is located in Scioto County and lies 683 miles [1,099.2 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Arion that is located in Crawford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Scioto County community of Arion.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Arion ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Bell
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Bell is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bell
  • Charter Oak
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Defiance
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Defiance is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Defiance
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 260 people
  • Irwin
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Panama
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Ricketts
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Ricketts is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ricketts
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 135 people
  • Soldier
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Vail
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Vail is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vail
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 413 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vail <2>

How Far From Arion to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Arion to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Arion and extending to:

  • Denison, which is the Seat of Crawford County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 98 miles [157.7 km]<1> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from Arion to Des Moines, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 989 miles [1,591.6 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 39 days and walking would take 57 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,452 miles [10,383.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,205 miles [11,595.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,107 miles [8,218.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Arion) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<4>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Arion to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Arion. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.9482, Longitude: -95.4623       In this case, the coordinates for Arion have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.783 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.466 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.536 degrees.